Here's a series of second-basic Herring
Gulls larus a. smithsonianus photographed by Ted
Lee Eubanks in Texas:
1) Galveston, March 18, 1990; this bird is already well into its
molt into second-alternate, with fresh gray mantle/scaps and whitening
head/body:
2) Galveston, 25 February, 1990; This bird is at the other extreme
(from 1)), with its second-basic mantle/scaps of the dark-centered
type rather than the more usual solid-gray type, plus the bill
is only slightly more advanced than most first-basics at this
time of year - but note the medium-pale eye:
3) Galveston, 25 February 1990; this has a more-typical mantle,
but the bill lacks a dark tip and are those short primaries fully-grown?:
4) San Luis Pass, 11 December 1989; this bird also has an unusually
pale-tipped bill: